A fatal elevator accident one month ago still haunts residents of the City Heights Takeshiba condominium complex in Minato Ward, Tokyo.</PARAGRAPH> <PHOTO> <TABLE WIDTH='250' ALIGN='RIGHT' BORDER='0'> <TR> <TD><IMG ALT='News photo' BORDER='0' SRC='../images/photos2006/nn20060704b4a.jpg' WIDTH='250' HEIGHT='326'/></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><FONT SIZE='1'><B>A man enters the City Heights Takeshiba building in Minato Ward, Tokyo, on June 7, as a police officer stands by the elevator that malfunctioned June 3, killing a high school boy. </B> KYODO PHOTO</FONT></TD> </TR> <TABLE> </PHOTO> <PARAGRAPH>'Right after the accident, I took the stairs to get my apartment on the 15th floor. Now I take the elevator again, but I'm still worried something may happen,' a 59-year-old female resident said, asking not to be named.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>On June 3, 16-year-old Hirosuke Ichikawa was crushed to death in one of the two elevators made by Schindler Elevator K.K. in the 23-story building.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>The elevator had suddenly started to move up, with the doors still open, as he was getting off with his bicycle on the 12th floor, where he lived. He was pinned between the rising elevator and the door frame.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Although the cause of the accident has yet to be pinpointed, it cast a harsh spotlight on flaws in the nation's elevator safety inspection system, and left high-rise residents and building caretakers anxious about safety.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>'One time when I was on the elevator, it began vibrating. I reported this to the building manager, but he said, 'It's OK,' ' the woman said. 'Unless a major accident happens, no one takes minor problems seriously.'</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Currently, the Building Standards Law requires building caretakers to have all elevators thoroughly inspected once a year by qualified personnel, including a certified architect, with annual reports submitted to local governments detailing any problems and corrective action.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Building managers must also have their elevators checked once a month by a general-level building engineer.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>But other than the annual report, accounts of other malfunctions are not obligatory, leading some experts to call for mandatory disclosure of even minor faults.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Industry insiders also say there is little communication among manufacturers, parties contracted to maintain elevators and building managers, leaving the door open to more accidents.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>The lack of communication especially between makers and independent maintenance firms that are not affiliated with the manufacturers is a major problem, said Shigeru Mine, spokesman for the Elevator Maintenance Union, comprised of 18 small and midsize independent maintenance firms.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>'We exchange information among union member firms' to provide better maintenance services,' Mine said, noting other independent firms may not have access to technical information on elevators.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>'If independent firms can't repair defects, then –

are left as they are."

He also said elevator manufacturers are reluctant to sell repair parts to independent maintenance firms.

Roughly 580,000 elevators were operating in Japan as of March 2005, and 90 percent of their maintenance is handled by firms affiliated with the manufacturers, according to the Japan Elevator Association, which is made up of 99 makers, including Toshiba Elevator Building Systems Corp. and Hitachi Ltd.

Though the share of independent maintenance firms is small, Gihei Takahashi, a professor at architecture at Toyo University's faculty of human life design in Saitama Prefecture, stressed that sharing safety information enables makers and maintenance firms to take measures to prevent accidents.